Envisioning the pride of homeownership

Families get a glimpse of future at Mill Stone

Dec. 10, 2010

A full-scale mock-up of what the homes in Mill Stone community will look like is unveiled at a ceremony Thursday at the site of the project at Vandever Avenue and Lamotte Street, near Brandywine Village in Wilmington. / The News Journal/FRED COMEGYS

Soon-to-be new homeowner Tiffany Mays sits quietly with her daughter, Atiana, 2, at a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday at the site of the Mill Stone project. / The News Journal/FRED COMEGYS

WILMINGTON -- Single dad Darin Thomas on Thursday hugged his children -- Mustafaa, 16, Zaahidah, 12, and Maryum, 10 -- in front of a life-size artist's rendering of their future home.

"The best part will be having my own room," Zaahidah said.

Her family was chosen to get one of six new town homes that her father and other volunteers will build in the first phase of Mill Stone, the largest Delaware project of Habitat for Humanity.

The Mill Stone project is in partnership with Architectural Alliance Inc., a Wilmington firm.

The 18-by-24-foot rendering of her future home's facade was unveiled Thursday in a groundbreaking ceremony for the project at Vandever Avenue and Lamotte Street, on the edge of Brandywine Village next to the Wilmington Job Corps Center.

Kenneth L. Smith, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County, said the full-block, 21-home project features construction of entirely new infrastructure -- sewer, water and gas lines, plus sidewalks, curbs and a new city street.

The street will be named Menser Way for the late Dave Menser, founder of the Greater Brandywine Village Revitalization Group, whose vision was instrumental in reviving the area in recent years, Smith said.

Menser's widow, Edie, praised the project with a line from the late TV star Fred Rogers, saying, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood."

The site -- little more than an expanse of bumpy blacktop and concrete Thursday -- also required unprecedented involvement with the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control because of ground contaminant left from its earlier uses, including an auto-body shop and dry-cleaning business, Smith said.

DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara called the effort a "great collaboration."

The Architectural Alliance Inc. designed the staggered brick homes to blend with the area's historic buildings and to achieve top certification under the National Association of Homebuilders' National Green Building Standard.

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Citing the project's "great site design," energy efficiency and reuse of a vacant site or brownfield, O'Mara said, "This is one of those projects that kind of pulls all the pieces together."

Studies have proved every dollar invested in a brownfield project more than pays for itself in a $17.50 return, O'Mara said.

The project was developed in a lengthy process with the city government and area resident groups, with major financial help from the state, the city's Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Longwood Foundation, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Wilmington Trust.

Bike to Build, a new benefit project, raised the $100,000 to pay for the Thomas family's home, and spokesman Jeff Kline said its goal is to raise enough next year to pay for two more.

On Thursday, each of the first phase's future homeowners -- Thomas, Shani Pierce, Tiffany Mays, Tamekia Mathias, Gloria Jones and Shantel Silva and Jack White -- had a turn at the microphone. They thanked God, Habitat, its sponsors and their families.

"I'm just so excited to be part of this," Thomas said.

Silva said she was "struggling like everyone else" when Habitat called to say she was accepted for a house and she felt "emotions running through my body ... like never in my life."

Smith told her, "Those emotions will be there 10-fold when we give you the keys to your house."

As more than their houses are done, the two-, three- and four-bedroom homes are to be offered to low- and moderate-income families approved by Habitat, starting at $125,000 with no-interest mortgages.

All will have off-street parking, washers and dryers, stoves and refrigerators, central air conditioning, and owners' choices of kitchen cabinet and counter colors.

Tim Crawl-Bey, Wilmington's director of real estate and housing, called the project exciting at a time when "there's not a lot of good news when you talk about the housing market."